Here’s how your local health care and public lands will be impacted:

As of Tuesday night, the federal government has shut down for the first time since 2018. The shutdown is already impacting federal agencies and will have repercussions across the country for national parks, social services, federal jobs, and more.

Sierra Business Council is closely monitoring what the shutdown means for the Sierra Nevada and how it will impact priority issues in the region. Read on for more information from our advocacy team on the consequences for healthcare, wildfire resilience, and national parks in the region.

Healthcare

At the center of the government shutdown was a political deadlock over health care policy. In budget negotiations, Democrats pushed Republicans to reverse the Medicaid cuts passed earlier in the year, along with demands to renew the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. However, Republicans rejected the proposal. At an impasse, Congress failed to pass a budget, and so the federal government shut down.

At issue is President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which was signed into law on July 4 of this year and is expected to cut Medicaid spending by 15%. William Dow, professor of health policy and management at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, described the legislation as “the largest, most regressive cut to federal health benefits that has ever been enacted in the U.S.” Research has consistently shown that cuts to Medicaid lead to worse health outcomes and a greater risk of premature mortality, especially in rural areas where communities already face worse health outcomes.

Many rural community health centers and critical access hospitals in the Sierra Nevada rely financially on Medicaid funding to serve their populations. Rural hospitals were already in danger of closing prior to the new Medicaid cuts. Southern Inyo Healthcare District, located in Lone Pine, had eight days of cash left as of September 12. If it closed, it would leave a 136-mile gap between hospitals in the Eastern Sierra. Glenn Medical Center in Northern California will close this month after losing federal funding. The closure of rural hospitals can lead to longer trips to receive emergency services and worse health outcomes.

With healthcare coverage and hospital funding on the line, the outcome of the shutdown will have major repercussions in the Sierra Nevada. Read more about how Medicaid cuts will impact residents of California’s Congressional District 1, District 3, and District 5.

Wildfire Resilience

In the Sierra Nevada and throughout the state, the shutdown has dangerous implications for wildfire prevention and resilience efforts. While active firefighters will be able to continue working through the shutdown, forest managers who oversee fire prevention projects will likely be furloughed. With cooler and wetter weather approaching and multiple prescribed burns planned in the coming weeks, October was looking like a key month for critical wildfire prevention projects. In California, the federal government manages 57% of forested land, so missing this window for prescribed burns will be hugely detrimental to forest health and the severity of future fire seasons.

For example, the USDA Forest Service was planning a prescribed fire in Lassen National Forest in October, an area that has been heavily impacted by catastrophic fires in the past. Given potential labor shortages due to the shutdown, it is unclear whether this fuels reduction work (and similar projects across the state) will actually happen. When wildfire protection projects like this don’t happen, the consequences can be disastrous for communities and old-growth forests alike.

National Parks

The Trump administration is planning to keep all national parks open, even though most employees will be furloughed. However, some services, like visitor centers, will likely close for the entirety of the shutdown. In 2018, the Trump administration required national parks to stay open, which in some places resulted in irreversible damage. In the Sierra Nevada, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks had to close due to overwhelming levels of human waste and trash.

If parks remain open with minimal staff, they will likely face similar challenges this fall.  Unstaffed parks and the threat of closures come as gateway towns across the region–from Three Rivers to Lee Vining to Chester–anticipate a final wave of visitors before the colder months set in. Lower visitation to national parks could also negatively impact local communities, reducing valuable revenue for seasonal, tourism-based economies across the Sierra.

What we can do:

Concerned about these issues? Contact your representative below to share how Medicaid cuts and the federal government shutdown will impact you and your community. In the Sierra Nevada, we shouldn’t have to choose between healthcare funding and public lands stewardship!

Congressman Doug LaMalfa, CA-01
District phone number: 530-223-5898 (Redding), 530-645-6225 (Yuba City), 530-343-1000 (Chico)

Congressman Kevin Kiley, CA-03
District phone number: 916-724-2575

Congressman Tom McClintock, CA-05
District phone number: 916-786-5560

Senator Alex Padilla
Sacramento Office: 916-448-2787, Fresno Office: 559-497-5109

Senator Adam Schiff
Fresno Office: 559-485-7430